Public funding of culture in Europe: recent developments

29-04-2019

This year, Péter Inkei from The Budapest Observatory dove into the statistics on public funding of culture in Europe from 2004 up to and including 2017. In line with the Observatory’s mission to shed light on how cultural life is financed and governed in East-Central European countries, special attention was being paid to the eleven post-communist EU countries.

Compared to 2004, the combined total of general government expenditure in the 28 EU member states increased with 38% in 2017. Inkei demonstrates that the eleven Eastern countries were the engine for this increase – with a growing share of their GDP being spent on culture – while the public cultural expenditure in Western countries is still recovering from the 2008 financial crisis. In his conclusion, Inkei ultimately stresses that these statistics must be complemented with systematic comparative analysis in order to grasp the essence of cultural funding: “We should care less about the amount of funding [and] stop mystifying percentages of GDP, [we] should focus on quality, on the soundness and effectiveness of financing.”

Public funding of culture in Europe: recent developments

29-04-2019

This year, Péter Inkei from The Budapest Observatory dove into the statistics on public funding of culture in Europe from 2004 up to and including 2017. In line with the Observatory’s mission to shed light on how cultural life is financed and governed in East-Central European countries, special attention was being paid to the eleven post-communist EU countries.

Compared to 2004, the combined total of general government expenditure in the 28 EU member states increased with 38% in 2017. Inkei demonstrates that the eleven Eastern countries were the engine for this increase – with a growing share of their GDP being spent on culture – while the public cultural expenditure in Western countries is still recovering from the 2008 financial crisis. In his conclusion, Inkei ultimately stresses that these statistics must be complemented with systematic comparative analysis in order to grasp the essence of cultural funding: “We should care less about the amount of funding [and] stop mystifying percentages of GDP, [we] should focus on quality, on the soundness and effectiveness of financing.”

New Spanish profile online

21-02-2019

We are pleased to announce that the first cultural policy profile based on the Compendium’s newly adopted methodological grid is now available on Culturalpolicies.net. National experts Anna Villarroya and Victoria Ateca-Amestoy have finished updating the Spanish profile which can be found in the special ‘New grid pilot profiles’ section using the button in the right-hand column.

Villarroya and Ateca-Amestoy report on many interesting developments in Spanish cultural policy. The most outstanding one they detected was the ‘Statute of Artists and Cultural Professionals’ and its final approval by the Congress of Deputies in September 2018 (as described in chapter 2.3). This implementation improves the position of Spanish artists and cultural professionals in regard to (among others) social security rights, copyright remuneration and the taxation of irregular incomes.

Other important cultural policy developments in Spain regarded gender equality and the combat against on- and offline piracy. During several professional encounters in 2018 (described in chapter 2.5.5) the gender perspective and the role of women in the cultural sphere was debated. The crack down of online piracy was tightened by the implementation of new copyright measures (as described in chapter 4.1.6).

The official presentation of the report concerning the 'Statute of Artists and Cultural Professionals'

New Spanish profile online

21-02-2019

We are pleased to announce that the first cultural policy profile based on the Compendium’s newly adopted methodological grid is now available on Culturalpolicies.net. National experts Anna Villarroya and Victoria Ateca-Amestoy have finished updating the Spanish profile which can be found in the special ‘New grid pilot profiles’ section using the button in the right-hand column.

Villarroya and Ateca-Amestoy report on many interesting developments in Spanish cultural policy. The most outstanding one they detected was the ‘Statute of Artists and Cultural Professionals’ and its final approval by the Congress of Deputies in September 2018 (as described in chapter 2.3). This implementation improves the position of Spanish artists and cultural professionals in regard to (among others) social security rights, copyright remuneration and the taxation of irregular incomes.

Other important cultural policy developments in Spain regarded gender equality and the combat against on- and offline piracy. During several professional encounters in 2018 (described in chapter 2.5.5) the gender perspective and the role of women in the cultural sphere was debated. The crack down of online piracy was tightened by the implementation of new copyright measures (as described in chapter 4.1.6).

The official presentation of the report concerning the 'Statute of Artists and Cultural Professionals'

Statistical updates: cultural prices and cinema admissions

13-02-2019

With the help of our cultural policy experts, we are currently updating the Compendium’s cultural prices index (the CUPIX) with 2017 and 2018 data on music, books, film, museums, arts education and theatre. The first data we gathered was published today and the information from the remaining countries will be updated on the fly. These updates can be accessed by clicking the corresponding years above or through ‘Markets’ in our Statistics section.

And we have more updates, thanks to the European Audiovisual Observatory: last week it released the first estimates for European cinema attendance in 2018. Compared to 2017, the total of cinema admissions decreased by 3% (29.4 million tickets). We added the provisional data per country in our table on cinema admissions, which you can find here and in 'Participation' in the Statistics section. This will be updated again when the final data are available.

Statistical updates: cultural prices and cinema admissions

13-02-2019

With the help of our cultural policy experts, we are currently updating the Compendium’s cultural prices index (the CUPIX) with 2017 and 2018 data on music, books, film, museums, arts education and theatre. The first data we gathered was published today and the information from the remaining countries will be updated on the fly. These updates can be accessed by clicking the corresponding years above or through ‘Markets’ in our Statistics section.

And we have more updates, thanks to the European Audiovisual Observatory: last week it released the first estimates for European cinema attendance in 2018. Compared to 2017, the total of cinema admissions decreased by 3% (29.4 million tickets). We added the provisional data per country in our table on cinema admissions, which you can find here and in 'Participation' in the Statistics section. This will be updated again when the final data are available.

Special short profile section

17-01-2019

To make them more easily accessible, we have created a special section for the short cultural policy profiles. These profiles summarise the country’s cultural policy in five chapters: facts and figures, background and recent changes, a description of the system, its main policies and priorities, and international cooperation. For now, short profiles from 2017 of Azerbaijan, Croatia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Norway and Sweden are available. The most recent profiles (2018) are from Finland and the Netherlands. Please find this section by clicking here or on the button in the right-hand column.

Special short profile section

17-01-2019

To make them more easily accessible, we have created a special section for the short cultural policy profiles. These profiles summarise the country’s cultural policy in five chapters: facts and figures, background and recent changes, a description of the system, its main policies and priorities, and international cooperation. For now, short profiles from 2017 of Azerbaijan, Croatia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Norway and Sweden are available. The most recent profiles (2018) are from Finland and the Netherlands. Please find this section by clicking here or on the button in the right-hand column.

Join our focus group

17-12-2018

Are you a regular Culturalpolicies.net user? Do you have good ideas about how we could enhance our information platform? Yes to both? Then please do us the service of signing up as a member of our Culturalpolicies.net focus group, before January 31st. Your input will be of valuable help during the development of our new website.

After the application due date, we will first send the selected focus group members a survey. At a later stage, some of them will also be invited to test the new website. Please sign up via our contact form and state your name, age, country, profession and email address. We'll hope to receive your applications soon!

Join our focus group

17-12-2018

Are you a regular Culturalpolicies.net user? Do you have good ideas about how we could enhance our information platform? Yes to both? Then please do us the service of signing up as a member of our Culturalpolicies.net focus group, before January 31st. Your input will be of valuable help during the development of our new website.

After the application due date, we will first send the selected focus group members a survey. At a later stage, some of them will also be invited to test the new website. Please sign up via our contact form and state your name, age, country, profession and email address. We'll hope to receive your applications soon!

New: Cultural policy profiles from the Arab region

03-12-2018

This year, the cultural policy profiles of Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Palestine, Syria and Tunisia found a new home at the website of the Compendium of Cultural Policies and Trends. With the support of the European Cultural Foundation (ECF), this valuable information is made publically available again.

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New: Cultural policy profiles from the Arab region

03-12-2018

This year, the cultural policy profiles of Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Palestine, Syria and Tunisia found a new home at the website of the Compendium of Cultural Policies and Trends. With the support of the European Cultural Foundation (ECF), this valuable information is made publically available again.

New Dutch short cultural policy profile

31-10-2018

This year, the Dutch government increased the national cultural budget for the first time since drastic budget cuts (about 21%) were made on the cultural sector in 2012. Besides investing in new art forms and cultural heritage, the Dutch Ministry of Culture, Education and Science wants to focus on the accessibility of culture and the arts for every Dutch citizen.

In the current Coalition Agreement, enjoying culture at a young age is encouraged and the government even announced that every Dutch child should see Rembrandt’s Night Watch in the Rijksmuseum (Amsterdam) at least once during its school going period. For more information about the recent cultural policy developments in the Netherlands, please review the new Dutch short profile.

New Dutch short cultural policy profile

31-10-2018

This year, the Dutch government increased the national cultural budget for the first time since drastic budget cuts (about 21%) were made on the cultural sector in 2012. Besides investing in new art forms and cultural heritage, the Dutch Ministry of Culture, Education and Science wants to focus on the accessibility of culture and the arts for every Dutch citizen.

In the current Coalition Agreement, enjoying culture at a young age is encouraged and the government even announced that every Dutch child should see Rembrandt’s Night Watch in the Rijksmuseum (Amsterdam) at least once during its school going period. For more information about the recent cultural policy developments in the Netherlands, please review the new Dutch short profile.

Report of the General Assembly 2018

18-10-2018

We have finished the full report on both Assembly days (October 9th-10th) in Rijeka, Croatia. The report contains summaries of all the sessions that took place – from presentations and expert working groups to official meetings and appointments – and it can be found here.

For a visual recap of the General Assembly and its atmosphere, please see our aftermovie:

Report of the General Assembly 2018

18-10-2018

We have finished the full report on both Assembly days (October 9th-10th) in Rijeka, Croatia. The report contains summaries of all the sessions that took place – from presentations and expert working groups to official meetings and appointments – and it can be found here.

For a visual recap of the General Assembly and its atmosphere, please see our aftermovie: